As illustrated in FIG. 1A, Microsoft Corporation's INTERNET EXPLORER version 4.0 is a software program that contains an AutoComplete feature that dynamically suggests a match for an Internet address, as the address is typed into an address bar by a user. Specifically, as when the user types just two characters “go” (FIG. 1A), the AutoComplete feature suggests the closest matching files and/or websites that contain this string of two characters. The AutoComplete feature makes suggestions by completing the address or command being typed with the nearest match, while the user is still typing. The nearest match is determined by examining a History folder, and/or the contents of a user-specified folder, and/or a list of most recently typed addresses or commands (which are stored in the registry). To accept a match displayed in the address bar, the user simply presses ENTER. The user can click the down arrow button on the keyboard to display a list of suggestions, and select from the list.
In versions 5.0 and 6.0 of the INTERNET EXPLORER, the AutoComplete feature displays suggestions in a list as soon as a familiar pattern is recognized (see the list illustrated in FIG. 1A). If a suggestion in the list matches what the user was typing, the user simply clicks the suggestion. Alternatively, the user may press the DOWN ARROW key to select a suggestion, and then press ENTER. If none of the suggestions displayed in the list are appropriate, the user may simply continue to type in the address bar. Therefore, when an additional character “s” is typed into the address bar (see FIG. 1B), the AutoComplete feature dynamically updates the list of suggestions, with closest matches that contain the three character string “gos”.
In addition to implementation in the address bar illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the AutoComplete feature is also implemented in the Open box for the Open command on the File menu in Internet Explorer. Moreover, the AutoComplete feature is also available in the Open box for the Run command on the Start menu in the Windows Explorer, which is part of the Windows NT operating system available from Microsoft Corporation.
Microsoft's OUTLOOK software program also contains a similar feature which is illustrated in FIG. 1C. OUTLOOK allows a user to locate an E-mail address when only a fragment of a name is known. For example, if the user knows a person's last name (or just the first initial), the user can enter as much of the name as is known (e.g. 3 characters), with the components separated by spaces. OUTLOOK tries to match the information provided by the user against the beginning of Last and First names in the Address Book. Outlook matches the provided information in any order, so “Stan A” or “A Sta” both find Stanier, Alan M. A similar feature, which is illustrated in FIG. 1D is provided in another software program from Microsoft Corporation, called OUTLOOK EXPRESS.
For more information on such technologies being supplied by Microsoft Corporation, see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,845,300, 5,923,848, and 6,377,965 all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,208,339 (which is also incorporated by reference herein in its entirety) describes providing a user interface for data entry with user changeable autocomplete functions for data entry fields.
Instant Messaging (“IM”) software programs are commonly used to by users to communicate with one another, and one such program supplied by YAHOO! Inc. is illustrated in FIG. 1E. IM programs inform each user of the status of one or more other users (with whom the user is likely to communicate), prior to establishing communication. For example, as illustrated by icons 105 in FIG. 1E, the information that is typically provided is whether a person in the user's “buddy list” (see list 103 in FIG. 1E) is typing on the keyboard and/or whether that person is already busy with another IM communication.
Icons 105 indicate to a current user that is desirous of initiating a communication, the current “presence” of persons on the buddy list (who are preselected as being of interest to the current user). Icons 105 change in a dynamic manner (e.g. if a person returns to their desk and starts typing their icon is changed from “away” to “present”). Icons 105 are normally used to predict the likelihood that an invitation for an IM session will be accepted.
The IM “buddy list” is typically displayed in a folder list (e.g. user names are grouped under one or more folders that in turn may be grouped under one or more additional folders), although a search bar 101 is also provided in some IM programs. We, the inventors have not personally come across any reference that discloses or suggests the use of an AutoComplete feature with search bar 101 of FIG. 1E.
AT&T has developed an application called “live addressbook” which is designed to help users make informed telephone calls from anywhere, via their wireless PDA or desktop browser. Unlike other network-based address books, which maintain static information, the live addressbook can display dynamic information about where the recipient currently is (i.e., reach number), and how available he/she currently is for calls. The system accomplishes this by applying to telephony the “Buddy List” concepts made popular in Instant Messaging applications.
For more information on “live addressbook”, see an article entitled “Providing Presence Cues to Telephone Users” by Allen E. Milewski and Thomas M. Smith published in the Proceedings of the 2000 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work December 2000, Philadelphia, Pa., and available at http://home.att.net/˜amilewski/liveabmilewski.pdf. This article is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
An article entitled “Presence: The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Voice” by Jonathan Rosenberg in Computer Telephony, published Nov. 5, 2000 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This article is available over the Internet at http://www.computertelephony.com/article/CTM20001023S0001. According to this article, a new service that presence could support is a modernized “attendant console.” Attendant consoles are common on PBX systems; they let the operator (also called the attendant) see the phone status of every extension connected to the PBX. Unfortunately, these consoles are limited. They can only monitor phones connected to the PBX and the console itself must be attached to the PBX.
According to this article, one can view an attendant console as a simple form of presence as well. Consider the possibilities for this simple application when real presence is used. The console can be a PC application. It can monitor people, rather than devices (therefore including cell phone, work phone, and VoIP phone in the status), and can manage anyone in the world willing to publish their presence information. The console itself can be run from anywhere, and more than one console can run on the same body of people, or on a subset or superset, without coordination. Consider the mobility benefits—the console attendants can now work from home and still manage the phone system in the enterprise, even monitoring the status of company employees who are telecommuting.
Also well known in the art is, for a front desk operator in an organization, to receive calls from outside the organization, and transfer them via a PBX to an employee who is identified after the operator talks to the caller. Such an operator may be provided with a computer that has been programmed to display the status of all phones in the organization as illustrated in FIG. 1F. Note that the operator is provided with status of not just one extension identified by the operator, but the call state of all extensions in the organization.
The just-described software also provides an operator interface for transferring a call (see FIG. 1G), wherein the operator can type in a character string followed by a delimiter (such as a space or tab). In response to the operator input that is non-numeric, the operator interface automatically highlights within a displayed list of status of all extensions, the first extension with a first name that matches the character string. No matching is performed on last names or partial extension numbers. If the character string is numeric, the full extension must be entered to highlight a single matching item in the list. Moreover, regardless of how many matches are present, the status of all extensions is displayed. The extensions that are displayed in the transfer screens are listed under a tab labeled “Extensions” (which is one of several tabs). The operator console also displays the following additional tabs: personal directory, system directory, and call history and dialer. None of these additional tabs display real time status information.
The operator console of FIG. 1G highlights at most a single line in a transfer screen, as described above. The real time status is displayed continuously for all items in the list regardless of any input from the operator. If the operator input is anything other than a first name, then nothing is changed in the list (i.e. all items in the list continue to be displayed as before and without any highlighting).
We the inventors note that in the operator console of FIG. 1G other partial matches are neither highlighted, nor are they displayed adjacent to one another or adjacent to the first highlighted line.